ISLE MADAME GEOGRAPHY

Isle Madame is an island located at the southern most tip of beautiful Cape Breton Island, in Nova Scotia, on Canada's east coast. Isle Madame is made up of four main communities; Arichat, West Arichat, D'Escousse, and Petit De Grat. The island is about 7 miles wide and 10 miles long. Paved roads criss-cross the island, showcasing the 12 beautiful interior fresh-water lakes, as well as the picturesque coastline with it's many inlets and islands.

By land, Isle Madame is located one-half hour from the Canso Causeway, and approximately three and a half hours from the Halifax International Airport. By sea, Isle Madame is 5 miles from the historic St. Peter's Canal, gateway to the world famous Bras d'Or Lakes, the largest salt water lake in the world. The island is located where a yachter could easily set sail for the Gulf of St. Lawrence or make their way along the east coast of Canada and the United States, or venture to any points beyond.

ISLE MADAME HISTORY

Not long after Columbus crossed the Atlantic for the first time French,
English, and particularly Basque fishermen began using Isle Madame as a
summer base for their North Atlantic Fishing and whaling expeditions. One of
the greatest attractions of Isle Madame in that early period of European
exploration was the immense herds of walrus that invaded the shores of Isle
Madame on fairly regular basis. Walruses were slaughtered in the hundreds of
thousands on the shores of Isle Madame both for the ivory of their tusks and
the oil that was rendered from their large deposits of fat.

Even once the last walrus had vanished from the shores of Isle Madame the
seas around Isle Madame continued to yield a sufficient bounty to justify a
continued European presence. In time a number of the Basque fishermen, who
had been using Isle Madame as a fishing station for generations, chose to
settle permanently. While they were eventually assimilated, through
intermarriage with their Acadian neighbors, their family names, Goyetche,
DesRoches, Baccardax, and Josse (Joyce) may be found in Isle Madame to this
day.

Apart from the Basque presence, the first permanent settlement on Isle
Madame occurred during the French regime at Louisbourg. During this time two
French merchants, D"Aroupet and Hiriat, turned Petit de Grat into a major
fishing and smuggling center. In fact, many French and British officials of
the time estimated that there was a greater volume of goods moving through
Petit de Grat then through Louisbourg itself. Some indication of D'Aroupet's
relationship with his employees can be discerned from the fact that his name
is still used in Petit de Grat as a curse word.

While some of Isle Madame's Acadian families, notably the Gerroirs, LeJeunes
and Doirons, settled in Isle Madame during this period, most of Isle
Madame's population was composed of French fishermen brought to Isle Madame
by Hiriat and D'Aroupet. After the fall of Louisbourg in 1758 virtually all
of these early settlers left Isle Madame. Most of the ancestors of Isle
Madame's present day Acadian population arrived in the years after the Fall
of Louisbourg. Families such as the Boudrot's (Boudreaus), Samsons, Martels
(Martells), Dugas',DeCoste, Bouchers, Petitpas, Vigneau's, Fougeres,
Marchands, Poiriers, and Landrys were settled in the Port Toulouse (St.
Peter's) area at the time of the Fall of Louisbourg. After being forced off
their land many of these families spent years in exile or hiding in the
woods before finding their way to Isle Madame. Other families such as the
Forets, the Theriots (Theriaults), the Babins, the LeBlancs, the Forgerons,
the Bellefoutaines, the Lavandiers, the Meuniers, and the Richards were
expelled from Old Acadie, that is the Bay of Fundy region, in the Great
Expulsion of 1755 and like the families mentioned above made their way to
Isle Madame after a number of years in exile.

Many of these early settlers lived in conditions just barely above the
subsistence level. Unable to hold public office, vote, teach or attend
school or even own land due to Nova Scotia's anti-Catholic penal laws they
lived at the mercy of the local authorities. This was mainly the local fish
merchant, Charles Robin, a French Anglican from the Channel Islands. Robins
fishing and trading operations extended around the Gulf of St. Lawrence
region and Arichat was his headquarters. Fishermen on Isle Madame sold all
of their fish to Robin and so he was able to control the price. Robin also
owned the only store, meaning that all fishermen were forced to purchase
their goods from him at prices he set. Given his monopoly position it is not
surprising that Robin exploited the Acadian fishermen of Isle Madame to the
limit of their endurance. Robin was followed by other Jersey merchants
including the Janvrins, the Levescontes, the Gruchys, the Huberts, the
Jeans, and the Moores. Many of these firms continued to exploit Isle
Madame's fishermen until well into the twentieth century. The Robin firm did
business at Robins in Arichat until 1910. The Levesconte operation in
D'Escousse only closed its doors in early 1930's.

Fortunately for Isle Madame's rapidly expanding Acadian population Nova
Scotia's anti-Catholic laws were abolished in 1784. By 1786, the population
of Isle Madame had increased to such an extent that Arichat was assigned its
own resident Catholic priest making it the second oldest Catholic parish in
Nova Scotia. At the time of its creation the parish of Arichat took in all
of Eastern Nova Scotia, PEI, and the Memramcook Valley of New Brunswick.

This newfound prosperity in the spiritual realm was mirrored by a growing
material prosperity. Even before the turn of the century Simon Foret of
Arichat was able to open a tavern on the Arichat waterfront. Pierre Babin,
ancestor of all the Babins of Isle Madame, built and sailed his own vessels.
As the nineteenth century unfolded such prosperity became the rule rather
than the exception. By this time it was becoming increasingly obvious that
Arichat was going to be one of the major ports in Atlantic Canada. Sitting
at the entrance to the Strait of Canso, which was itself the entrance to the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, Arichat was ideally suited to act as a stop over
place for vessels headed to the Canada's. As well Arichat was well suited to
act as a base for merchants engaged in the so-called triangular trade in
which North Atlantic fish was exchanged for Caribbean rum and molasses and
European manufactured goods. To these geographic advantages was added the
fact that Arichat possessed one of the largest and deepest harbors on the
Eastern seaboard of North America.

This particular combination of advantages ushered in an age of unparalleled
prosperity on Isle Madame. Around the shores of Isle Madame, particularly in
West Arichat and D'Escousse, ocean going vessels were constructed in record
numbers by the same Acadian fishermen who had been oppressed by Charles
Robin. In Arichat alone in the 1830s upwards of 60 vessels a year were being
constructed. Five forges were needed to supply the metal work necessary for
these vessels. By 1867 over 400 listed Arichat as their homeport, hundreds
more sailed out of West Arichat, D'Escousse, and Petit de Grat. So many
Spanish, French and American vessels visited Arichat in those years the
governments of those countries maintained consular agents at Arichat to look
after the affairs of their nationals. By the 1860s Arichat could boast two
high schools, a cathedral, two Protestant churches, a grand court house, 24
large wharves, several lawyers, several doctors, a Masonic temple, several
hotels, up to four bars, and a newspaper. Needless to say, this activity
attracted a good deal of immigration to Isle Madame. Several families
including the LeNoirs, the Hureaus, the LeBruns, the Murys, the Covins, and
the Franks migrated directly from France and were quickly absorbed into the
local Acadian population. Other families such as the Davids and Lindens
first popped up on Isle Madame when their forbearers jumped ship in the
Strait of Canso, swam ashore and met and married local girls, thereby
assimilating into the Acadian majority. One group that did not assimilate
readily was the Irish immigrants to Isle Madame. In Arichat such families as
the Flynns, Hennessys, Barrets, Powers, Phalens, Maddens, and Tyrrels long
maintained their separate Irish identity. Indeed Arichat's St. Paddy's day
celebrations were judged to be the most exuberant east of Montreal. In Rocky
Bay the Kellys, Doyles, Wilsons, Dunns, Kehoes, O'Hearns and Keatings were
even more devoted to their Irish heritage and succeeded in producing what is
today the most distinctly Irish community in Cape Breton. Indeed up until
the Second World War the ancient Irish language was still to be heard in
Rocky Bay.